Fire-escape.



'ifm I 7 16 A. RBUTER. FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8,1907.

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Tz 2 X I f 5 l l i J I @maar PATBNTED JAN. 14, 1908.

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A TTU/NVE YS' UNITED STATES AUGUST BEUTER, OF NEW YORK, N'. 'YS-R FIRE-ESCAPE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1908.

Application filed .Tune 8. 1907. Serial No. 377.845.

To all 'whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, AUGUST REUTER, asubject of the German Emperor, and aresident of the city of New York, borough'of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedFire-Escape, of which the following is afull, clear and exactdescription.

This invention relates to fire escapes such as are attached near thewindows of dwellings toenable persons to escape. It belongs to the classof these devices which operate frictionally to allow a rope or cord torun down under the weight of the body.

The object of the invention is to construct a device of this kind whichis simple, and which will operate effectively to increase the resistanceautomatically with an increase of weight, so that any unusually heavyperson will descend at substantially the same speed as a light one.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts tobe more Ifully described hereinafter and particularly set -forth in theclaims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of-this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device partly 'shown in section andillustrating the manner-in which it is applied in practice; Fig. 2 is avertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a crosssection on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents the frame of thedevice, which frame is formed of tee irons which are bent so as topresent oppositely disposed parallel bars 2 which depend from anintegral loop 3 connecting them. These bars are arranged so that theirflanges 4 come' opposite to each other in such a way that between eachpair of bars a guideway or guide is formed. The bars 2 are held at adistance apart atu't'he upper end by a cross head or cross plate 5, andat the lower end are held apart by similar cross heads or cross plates6.

At the u per end of the frame oppositely dis osed p ates 7 are provided,between which there is supported a pulley 8 mounted upon a suitable pin9 as shown. In the space between the flanges 4 and on each side of theframe, long bolts or stems 10 are provided, and the upper ends of thesestems pass through the cross head 5 and are threaded to receive nuts 11which support the stems in fixed position. The lower ends of these stemsare provided with heads 12 which are disposed below cross plates 13connecting thelower ends of the guide bars as shown most clearly in Fig.1.

Slidably mounted on the stems at the u per ends thereof, sleeves 14 arerespective y provided, and the'portions' of the stems below the sleevesare provided with a plurality of slidably mounted thimbles or smallersleeves 15. Between the thimbles 15 helical s rings 17 are provided,which separate the owermost thimble' from the lower end of the sleeve14.

Between the bars 2 I provide'aO plurality of transveresly disposed pinsor spools 18; these spools have enlarged heads 19 at the ends thereof,with concave faces adapted to form guides for the rope 20 which passesthrough the device.

Through the bodies of the spools or pins, longitudinally disposedfingers 2 1 are provided, the ends of which project beyond the spools asindicated in Fig. 3. These projecting ends of the fingers extend intothe guideway between the fianges of the bars 2 so that they operate toguide the spools in a vertical direction. The fingers 21 are disposedapart so as to form a space'through which the stems 10 pass, and thisconstruction is also most clearly shown in Fig. 3. In this way thefingers 21 are received between the sleeves 15 and are normally held ina certain position by theforce of the helical springs 17. There may beas many of the spools 18 as desired, but in the drawings I have shownfive. Above the uppermostspool I provide a pair of transversely disposedrollers 22, which are rotatably mounted upon a small cross bar 23, asindicated, the ends of this bar being rigidly attached to the bars 2 bysuitable screws 24 as shown.

The rope 20 which has 'been referred to above, is passed upwardly overthe spools 18 at one end thereof, lying upon the alining faces 'of theheads. At its upper portion it forms a loop around the pulley 8, and iswound downwardly over the other end of the spools as shown. As indicatedin Fig. 1, it passes on the same sides of the spools, but passes fromside to side of the frame, being alternately on the forward side of thespools, 's will appear most clearly from inspection of gIothe endsof therope, belts 25 and 26 are attached, which are indicated in Fig. 1 asbroken away` These belts are provided with buckles, such as the buckles27, which enable the belts to be fastened around the waist or under thearms in a well understood manner. With this arrangement when one of thebelts descends to carry a body to the earth, the other belt ascends.

Attention is called to the fact that in its course through the device,the cord going up passes on the same side of the spool as the cordcoming down. From this arrangement, there is no tendency exerted torotate the spool, as the friction of one rope will be substantially thesame as the friction of the other.

The rollers 22 operate as guide rollers to bring the cord or rope intotheplane of the guide pulley 8.

At the upper end of the frame a bail 28 is provided, of substantiallytriangular form, which is adapted to be attached to a hook or othermeans for fastening the same outside of a window 29.

The ends of the plates 7 are disposed between the bars 2, and areattached together by bolts 16 and rest upon the sleeves 14.

Special attention is called to the zig-Zag course of the rope throughthe device. In the operation of the device, the weight of the 30 bodycarried in the belt is borne directly by the pulley 8. This weight issupported on the sleeves 14 which slide down on the stems and compressthe springs. The amount of compression of the springs depends upon theweight of the body supported, and consequently the heavier the body is,the nearer the spools will come together. As the spools approach nearertogether, the course of the rope across thc spools becomes more acutelyangular or circuitous, and this increases the resistance which the ropeoffers to being bent around its turns. By this means the nre escaperegulates itself automatically so that a heavy person will descend atsubstantially the same speed as a light one.

.claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: 1

1. In a re escape, in combination, a guide frame a plurality of membersmounted to slide therein, means for resiliently holding said membersapart, a ropepassing around said members and passing from side to sidethereof in a Zig-zag course whereby resist-v ance is oered to thepassing of said rope, and means for supporting the Weight carried bysaid rope upon said nrst means.

2. In a fire escape, in combination, a guide frame, a pulley supportedthereupon, a rope passing over said pulley adapted to support a weight,a plurality of friction members, springs separating said frictionmembers and adapted to be compressed by the weight upon said pulley,whereby the resistance to said rope increases with the increase ofweight on said pulley.

3. In a fire escape, in combination, a guide frame, a plurality ofnon-rotatable spools supported in said frame, springs between saidspools and tending to hold the same apart, a pulley supported on saidsprings,

- and a rope passing 1n a zig-zag path around said spools crossing theaxes of said springs between said spools and passing over said pulley.75

4. In a fire escape, in combination, a guide frame, guide stemssupported therein, a plurality of sleeves slidably mounted in saidstems, springs disposed around said stems between said sleeves, spoolshaving their ends supported upon said sleeves, and a rope passing aroundsaid spools and supported by said springs whereby an increase of weighton said rope may press said spools toward each other. In testimonywhereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

AUGUST REUTER. Witnesses:

F. D. AMMEN, JOHN P. DAvrs.

Having thus described my invention, I

